PHNOM PENH: The Minister of Interior, Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng, presided over the closing ceremony of the meeting to summarize the work results of 2021 and the work direction of 2022 of Phnom Penh Capital Administration on Thursday morning. The meeting was attended by the Minister of National Assembly-Senate Relations and Inspection, Deputy Prime Minister Men Sam An, the Secretary of State and Undersecretary of State of the Ministry of Interior, and many other officials.

To begin with, the Governor of the Board of Governors of Phnom Penh, Khuong Sreng, expressed his pleasure and respect for the high presence of DPM Sar Kheng, who presided over the closing ceremony. The Phnom Penh Governor also highlighted that Phnom Penh is one of the 25 capitals-provinces in Cambodia that acts as a center of politics, economy, society, tourism, culture and diplomacy with development in all fields.

The Governor further reported that in 2021, although the Covid-19 global crisis caused serious damage, the performance of duties of the Phnom Penh Capital Administration, Commune Administration, Districts and all Departments had been functioning normally, which is a very proud achievement, especially along with the closing of the 20 February community event on 20 December 2021.

He continued that the positive results achieved by the Phnom Penh Capital Administration must continue to be mobilized, providing total strength through measures to continue managing and addressing a number of key priorities, including the control of the spread of Covid-19 (Omicron and all other variants), speeding up the rate of vaccination, strengthening the working system in the new normal course as socioeconomic activities in the country re-launch, preparing for the 2022 ASEAN Summit to be hosted by Cambodia, supporting the 2022 Commune/District Council election process and strengthening village-commune safety policy to provide better public services.

DPM Sar Kheng expressed his pleasure to preside over the closing ceremony of the meeting to summarize the work results of 2021 and the work direction of 2022 of Phnom Penh Capital Administration.

He expressed his full agreement on the spirit of the conference and set the direction for further work after the discussion and preparation of this report. The DPM also highly expressed his appreciation for the efforts of the Phnom Penh Capital Administration, as well as all other relevant authorities and the local government team, which united in 2021 to serve the people in the Phnom Penh capital, maintain peace, public order, as well as joint socio-economic development in accordance with the program of the Royal Government to improve the lives of the people. In particular, DPM Sar Kheng expressed his appreciation for the efforts of the Phnom Penh Capital Administration in the fight against the spread of Covid-19 by quickly distributing vaccines to the public.

He added, "So far, we have made good progress on the implementation of the first phase of the national program, now we have reached the second phase of the implementation of the second phase of the national program, which is 10 years ahead. At this stage, attention must be paid to the transfer of decentralized functions to the sub-national administration, as well as to the transfer of both human and national resources as much as possible.”

DPM Sar Kheng requested for the continued support and implementation of this important policy for the benefit of all citizens, making a wide-appeal to all levels of administration in the capital, provinces, cities, districts and institutions. He urged relevant units to pay attention to addressing the challenges of the people's requests in order to gain the trust of the people. He also expressed hope that the administration at all levels in Phnom Penh will continue its efforts to achieve important tasks in 2022 to contribute to the victory of the Kingdom of Cambodia.